Henipavirus naming and regional discrimination
Authors: Shao-Lun Zhai, Xia Zhou, Hong-Chao Gou, Kun-Li Zhang, Chun-Ling Li
Journal: The Lancet Microbe (2023)

In the genus Henipavirus in the family Paramyxoviridae, there are eight members including Hendra virus, Nipah virus, Mojiang virus, Cedar virus, Gamak virus, Daeryong virus, Kumasi virus, newly discovered Angavokely virus, and Langya virus.1Lee SH Kim K Kim J et al.Discovery and genetic characterization of novel Paramyxoviruses related to the genus Henipavirus in Crocidura species in the Republic of Korea.Viruses. 2021; 132020Crossref Scopus (11) Google Scholar, 2Madera S Kistler A Ranaivoson HC et al.Discovery and genomic characterization of a novel Henipavirus, Angavokely virus, from fruit bats in Madagascar.J Virol. 2022; 96e0092122Crossref PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar, 3Zhang XA Li H Jiang FC et al.A zoonotic Henipavirus in febrile patients in China.N Engl J Med. 2022; 387: 470-472Crossref PubMed Scopus (45) Google Scholar Among these henipaviruses, four have previous evidence of zoonotic capacity. Hendra virus and Nipah virus are zoonotic pathogens that cause severe acute respiratory distress and high mortality in humans, and are mainly present in Australia, Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh, while Mojiang virus and Langya virus are zoonotic pathogens that cause fever and respiratory distress in humans, and are mainly present in the Yunnan, Henan, and Shandong provinces of China.3Zhang XA Li H Jiang FC et al.A zoonotic Henipavirus in febrile patients in China.N Engl J Med. 2022; 387: 470-472Crossref PubMed Scopus (45) Google Scholar In December, 2019, COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, arose in Wuhan city, China. Initially, SARS-CoV-2 was termed by international politicians as the so-called Wuhan virus. People from Wuhan or China were subject to regional discrimination both domestically and internationally. The new coronavirus was named 2019-nCoV by WHO,4Jiang S Shi Z Shu Y et al.A distinct name is needed for the new coronavirus.Lancet. 2020; 395: 949Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (207) Google Scholar who later renamed the virus SARS-CoV-2. A group of virologists in China further suggested renaming SARS-CoV-2 as human coronavirus 2019 (HCoV-19).4Jiang S Shi Z Shu Y et al.A distinct name is needed for the new coronavirus.Lancet. 2020; 395: 949Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (207) Google Scholar Generally, the names of henipaviruses are all taken from the places of discovery. For example, Hendra virus was first found in Hendra Town, QLD, Australia; Nipah virus was first found in Nipah New Town, Sumerland, Malaysia; Mojiang virus was first found in Mojiang County, Yunnan Province, China; Angavokely virus was first found in Angavokely, Madagascar;2Madera S Kistler A Ranaivoson HC et al.Discovery and genomic characterization of a novel Henipavirus, Angavokely virus, from fruit bats in Madagascar.J Virol. 2022; 96e0092122Crossref PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar and Langya virus was first found in Langya Town, Shandong Province, China.3Zhang XA Li H Jiang FC et al.A zoonotic Henipavirus in febrile patients in China.N Engl J Med. 2022; 387: 470-472Crossref PubMed Scopus (45) Google Scholar During the COVID-19 pandemic, the first paper about the emergence of Langya virus was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Aug 4, 2022,3Zhang XA Li H Jiang FC et al.A zoonotic Henipavirus in febrile patients in China.N Engl J Med. 2022; 387: 470-472Crossref PubMed Scopus (45) Google Scholar which brought new regional discrimination against the Langya region, China, such as prohibiting the passage of personnel and vehicles. Smriti Mallapaty then published a comment in Nature,5Mallapaty S New ‘Langya’ virus identified in China: what scientists know so far.Nature. 2022; 608: 656-657Crossref PubMed Scopus (16) Google Scholar in which he mentioned that Langya virus was related to Hendra virus and Nipah virus, but does not spread easily between humans. To some extent, this publication might have reduced regional discrimination against Langya virus. Regional discrimination due to virus names should be of importance to scientists, WHO, and International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Therefore, we propose to update the naming of henipaviruses (such as Henipavirus 1, Henipavirus 2, Henipavirus 3 etc) with the aim of reducing regional discrimination to some extent. S-LZ and XZ contributed equally. This manuscript was supported by a grant (XTXM202202) from the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, a grant (2023B04J0137) from Guangzhou Science and Technology Bureau, and grants (2022SDZG02, 2023KJ114, and 2023KJ119) from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Guangdong Province. We declare no competing interests.